This invention relates generally to creating and displaying a consumer modifiable advertising message on an automobile radio antenna.
There are many known ornamental attachments designed for vehicle antennas. Traditional antenna attachments are formed by boring a hole through the center of the attachment. Such prior art antenna attaches are secured to the antenna by threading the antenna through the hole.
There are known problems with this method of attachment. U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,820 observes that such a method is problematic in that vehicle antenna generally have a tip with a larger diameter than the rod of the antenna, so the mounting hole is undesirably enlarged when sliding the attachment onto the antenna, making it difficult or impossible for the attachment to remain securely positioned on a particular place on the antenna. The '820 patent teaches an improvement wherein the channel contains recesses to accommodate the larger antenna tip. While the '820 is a significant improvement over the prior art, it suffers from at least three shortcomings. First, it relies on the center bore channel of the prior art for attachment which allows the attachment to be undesirably rotated when the vehicle is traveling at high speeds. Second, antenna tips are not standardized so unique attachment must be prepared for each different size an style of antenna tip. Third, the '820 is limited to attachments contemplated, prepared, and distributed by the manufacturer.
What is needed is an improved system that overcomes these limitations and provides the consumer with a flexible, easy, and reliable system to design and modify advertising messages create by the consumer for display on an automobile radio antenna.